


Soft Touch

by penlex



Series: little cuts [9]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Brothers, Cuddling & Snuggling, Fluff, Gen, Humor, Napping, Not Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Compliant, POV Outsider, Platonic Cuddling, Platonic Relationships, Post-Thor: Ragnarok (2017), Siblings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-01
Updated: 2018-09-01
Packaged: 2019-07-05 08:51:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 770
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15860304
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/penlex/pseuds/penlex
Summary: Tony catches Thor and Loki napping together on a public couch.





	Soft Touch

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this on my phone in bed at 2:30 am in the morning.

It's odd, having Loki around. On the one hand he's still slightly terrifying, his motives and intentions ever the mystery, his badness level constantly in extreme, unpredictable fluctuation. When turning a corner to find him with freakishly green glowing fingers, looking half sinister and half playful, the knowledge that he's (supposedly) a Good Guy now is uncomfortably dissonant.

On the other hand, it's even stranger to see him when he's _not_ being scary.

Tony is minding his own business here - or at least, minding as much of his own business as he ever does - so he thinks it's a little uncalled for that he have to see this weirdness in his own living room.

Thor and Loki are tangled up together on the couch, an extra sturdy and extra plush maroon monstrosity of a furnishing bought with supers in mind that they still somehow both manage to be too long for. They are wearing casual Earth clothing, Thor in a soft looking purple hoodie and grey sweats and Loki in a black t-shirt and blacker jeans. As if that's not weird enough, they're in sock feet (Thor's garishly pink and Loki's dark green), and they are fast asleep. Thor's mouth is hanging open and has some of Loki's hair in it.

The last time Tony saw the brothers was on world-saving business. Armor clad and shining, pulling disappearing acts and changing the weather at will, they really lived up to their godly reputations. Those larger than life warriors are near impossible to reconcile with the scruffy conked out siblings here now; Tony's creeping up on hysteria even trying, frozen in the doorway with no idea what he even came in here for.

Thor is on his back, his hair sticking up every which way, at an awkward stage he hides under hoods or helmets as it grows back (Loki makes fun of it mercilessly, but Thor always has a fashion faux pas of Loki's ready as a rejoinder). Loki is using his big brother as a pillow, though it doesn't seem like a very comfortable one, Loki's face smashed into Thor's unforgiving chest. Thor has one arm slung loosely around Loki's shoulders, holding him close in the tight space provided by the couch - an item, Tony silently reminds no one, that is not intended for even one normal-sized person to sleep on, nevermind two extra large aliens. Their vibrantly socked feet are mixed up together and hanging several inches over the armrest. Loki's bare ankles are showing.

Tony's brain hurts. Just a little.

As Tony watches, Loki's peaceful expression (even the phrase alone is enough to have Tony's thoughts make record scratch noises) begins to morph into one of distress. He looks so young and surprisingly not evil asleep like this that Tony feels a surge of protectiveness - but it only lasts long enough to remember when Loki had cast an illusion to make everything in the fridge look like live pigeons.

Sleeping, deceptively innocent-seeming Loki's body tenses on top of Thor's. He doesn't make any noise, and in fact if he hadn't seen what Loki looked like a second ago Tony doubts he'd have been able to tell Loki was upset at all. But even asleep, Thor knows Loki better than anyone else could ever hope to.

Thor shifts and mumbles, still asleep really but awake enough to be aware of his little brother. Loki doesn't wake. His hand curls into a claw in Thor's hoodie and - was that a whimper? Couldn't have been, no way. The mostly unconscious Thor is undeterred. He drags the arm around Loki's shoulder up higher and pats Loki reassuringly - right in the face. It does not look gentle.

Tony's whole body locks up in some awful, self-preservation defying combination of fight-or-flight and that thing where you can't stop watching a catastrophe. He's certain Loki is going to wake up and furiously hex all of Thor's skin off, or at least give him a very bad magical sunburn or something, probably while squalling like a splashed cat. But instead he just- relaxes, immediately and absolutely. Seconds later, he's snoring quiet breathy little snores (which are adorable, and therefore _deeply_ disconcerting). It's as if his brief nightmare had never even occurred - all because Thor hit him in the face.

"Okay," Tony whispers to himself dazedly. "Sure. Why not." He turns around and goes to the closest lab, not remembering and not caring if that's where he came from or not. He'd like to tell himself stranger things have happened, but he's pretty sure they haven't.

Worse, he's also sure they probably will have by tomorrow.


End file.
